Trying to extract more from my Vandersteen

Drewyou
Glad to hear you are enjoying your upgrades, I have my TLC-1Dlx scheduled for the Gold upgrade along with having the Carbon wire installed. They told me it would be after the first of the year before they could get started on it. I have pair of DNA-1 Golds that I use to drive a pair of 3A Sig with awesome results. I just added a 2Wq with the X-5 crossover a couple of weekends ago and Wow what an improvement but then again you already know this. I'm not sure if you're using the X-5 or the X-2 but I can tell you this much the X-5 will add a whole new meaning to the word clarity to your system. I haven't been home the past two weeks to be able to pinpoint exactly what all the improvement are but that will be the fun of it listening to all that great music. If you get the chance try the X-5 you will be amazed at the what your system can actually present to you.
You should post your system on the system board, I have plans to do that here in the next coming weeks as the cold sets in.

Probably not as sophisticated as many here, but have a pair of Vandy 2c driven by Myryad MI-240 integrated, use anticables for speaker wires and also to my Marantz 4300 (yes - cringe - a carousel) CD player. The Myryad replaced my old NAD 3020 and it is much faster and more accurate. Any tips to improve or balance this system?

Thanks.

Soundbit,
The last thing, component-wise that I changed/upgraded when I first got into this hobby was my source component (in my case, a CD-player). I thought, "a CD player is a CD player, can they really be all that different from one another?"

All I can tell you is that, it definitely does make a difference, IMO as much as an amp or preamp. Although the rest of my system has remained generally the same for the past few years, a few different CD players have come and gone in my system. The ones that I've tried are Rotel rcd-02, Rotel 990, Shanling, older Rega Jupiter, and now the Eastern Electric.

Go out and see what's out there. You'll be surprised and hopefully happy with what you hear.

UPDATE:

By posting here so many years later, I hope I am not breaking any forum rules around resurrecting old threads. Perhaps it may be better to post as a new thread...

It’s not anything special for me to say that much has happened in my life since my last post in 2008; however, one thing that has virtually remained the same is my system!

Without getting into much detail, since early 2010 until this summer, my system has pretty much been in storage. I remember during those couple years before 2010, I was extremely satisfied with my system. I think the only additional tweaks I made were replacing my ICs with Kimber Silver Streaks and settling with Mullard 4024 tubes in my TAD-150 sigs*, both of which brought incrementally significant improvements to my system. The next thing on my list, at that time, was a new turntable. (I was sad to learn of Paul Grzybek’s* passing and to hear Eastern Electronics is no more)

Fast forward to 2020, I found myself spending significantly more time at home and with the need to set up a "home office". This was my cue to bring out the system. Unpacking my system felt a bit like opening up a personal time-capsule, stirring up old memories and bringing back latent knowledge.

This room is the smallest (11 x 11 x 9) I’ve had to work with. I started with diagonal placement, as I did with my room from 2008, but the standard straight wall placement just sounded better, especially for low freq. I suspect a lot of this has to do with the placement of windows in my room. After some research, I added simple first reflection treatments to the side walls, ceiling, and behind the speakers. These made significant improvements to clarity and especially to the sound stage. I am a novice in room treatment, but I am eager to learn more.

A significant change to my system has been the recent addition of a Lumin D2 unit (streamer / DAC) with Sbooster PS. Adding this unit has been the single most important change that has re-ignited my fire for this hobby. Yes, the unit is great, but it’s what it has enabled that brings the biggest value for me. The 80’s-2000’s marked a period of my life full of exploring and discovering new music. This is what led me to the audiophile world (I’m sure this is true for many of you). Unfortunately, the day I packed up my equipment in 2010, also marked the day I stopped listening to new music. With the streamer, I listen to new music everyday, which in turn has let me appreciate my system even more.

To summarize my thoughts over the past 14 years, the following is what has so far helped me on my journey to extract more from my Vandersteens (In order of magnitude of impact):

1. Supplementing the speakers - adding sub and cross-over
2. Placement & sound treatment - getting to "know" my speakers, experimenting with positioning, and treating first node reflection points
3. Improving source component & content - easy access to hi-res content has been a blessing, Lumin D2 is a wonderful little unit
4. Finding tubes that fit your taste - tubes make a difference, but I didn’t truly know until I started "rolling" them first hand
5. Speaker cables and ICs - finding my "value" sweet spot is key here (perceived improvement to system vs. how much I am willing to pay)

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My Vandersteen 2CE Signatures sound better than they ever have. I’ve owned them for close to 18 years now. This being said... my quest to extract more from my Vandersteens has been re-booted. As always, I welcome any suggestions or comments.

I am currently entertaining these ideas:

• Moving up in the Vandersteen product line (Treo, Quatro)
• Considering replacement speakers that match small rooms and are good for near-field listening
• Additional SMc Audio upgrades to my DNA-1 Deluxe Silver
• Continue tube rolling for TAD-150 Sig
• Replacing my TAD-150 Sig